Image to Unicode art
Draw a picture with block characters. Nothing you open leaves your device.
- Your text is never uploaded
- Processed on your device
- Works offline
- Free, no sign-up
Empty
Result updates as you type
The result appears here as soon as you type or open a file.
Settings
How it works
Open a picture
Open any photo or screenshot. Its block-character portrait appears at once.
Tune the shading
Change the width and inversion until the light and dark areas read clearly.
Copy or download
Copy the art into posts, banners and profiles, or save it as a text file.
Blocks instead of letters
This art uses only the four Unicode shade blocks — full, dark, medium and light — plus a space, so the picture reads as smooth tonal steps rather than letterforms. The result looks cleaner than classic ASCII and survives in places that mangle punctuation.
Because blocks are solid shapes, edges and gradients render more faithfully than with @%#* letters. High-contrast subjects with simple backgrounds give the most striking portraits.
Getting the shading right
Widen the output for detail or narrow it for chat boxes and bios; 80 characters suits most uses. Inversion swaps light and shade for dark-on-light displays, matching how the art will actually be read.
As with all text art, a monospace font is required: proportional fonts knock every row out of alignment and dissolve the image into noise.
Shaded on your own screen
Every block is chosen from your picture's brightness by code running in this tab. No image data is transmitted, uploaded or cached elsewhere at any point.
You need no account and leave no trace. The portrait persists only where you paste or save it.
Questions
Is my picture uploaded?
No. The block art is drawn inside your browser. Your picture never leaves your device.
How is this different from ASCII art?
ASCII art uses letters and symbols like @%#*, while this uses only Unicode shade blocks, giving smoother tones that survive better in posts and bios.
Why does it look wrong in my editor?
Your editor likely uses a proportional font. Switch to a monospace font so every block lines up into the picture.
Is it free?
Yes. Free to use, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limits.
Related tools
More free tools that run on your device. No uploads